Untitled Babylon 5 Story
by ChandaK562
Summary: Talia returns to Babylon 5 but is she returning to die? I've only seen parts of the first three seasons so please don't judge this too harshly. I've updated the first three chapters, and hopefully will get updates done for the rest soon.
1. Default Chapter

The woman cautiously detached herself from the shadows in Downbelow and slid along the wall as carefully as she could at her size. She slipped down the hallway as quietly as possible, head down and mentally signaling people not to notice her. As soon as she was safely hidden in the shadows again, Talia Winters slumped against the wall and slid down it until she was sitting on the ground. She knew it would be almost impossible for her to get back up again but her feet and legs hurt so much. She had to rest for a bit and figure out what she was going to do next.

She let out a muffled moan as she rubbed her aching back with one hand while pressing the other against her swollen stomach. Despite the pain, she smiled for a moment as she felt the gentle movements beneath her fingers before turning her mind to how she was going to get out of the fix she was in.

Thanks to the alternate personality Psi Corps had implanted in her, if any of her friends, her only true friends, she realized now, saw her they would most likely want to boot her right back off the station again. At least there was one good thing about her condition. It pretty much rendered her un-bootable. Anyone trying to move her would most likely give themselves a hernia, although she wasn't quiet willing to test that out by dropping in on Susan Ivanova. After what the alternate personality had done, she was sure Susan would ignore the pain of a hernia easily for the pleasure of tossing her out the nearest airlock.

She wished that Andrew, the Ranger who had escorted her to the station, had told her what plans there were to continue her journey to Mimbar. It would make things so much easier if she knew who she could turn to for help. But by the time it became obvious that a stop at Babylon 5 for medical care would be necessary, all she could think about was her babies, and trying to keep them safe. And now she was alone, with no idea who to trust or ask for help.

"As if anyone would come close enough for me to ask them anyway," she muttered as she pulled herself to her feet again by getting onto her hands and knees and using her arms as leverage to get herself up. For some reason, everyone seemed to flee at the sight of her. Maybe they were afraid she would fall and crush them or something. It had made Downbelow much safer though. Even the most dangerous criminals were frightened at the sight of her condition.

Going to Doctor Franklin was out, even if he was the reason that she was on the station in the first place. The intent when Andrew brought her there was for him just to take a look at her, and do whatever had to be done to keep her babies safely inside long enough for her to get to Mimbar. There had been no thought of having to ask him to hide her, and in her condition she didn't see any way that hiding would be possible for any real length of time.

If she could just go to Susan or Michael. Maybe it made her weak or maybe it was just hormones and exhaustion talking, but she would give anything to find her two friends, throw herself into their arms and know that she would be safe, that they would protect her and her babies. If this had happened months ago, she knew what would have happened. They would have been horrified, they would have wanted the head of whoever had hurt her, and had done this to her. Bester would have probably had a very painful encounter with the station reactor. And then she would have had nine months of the pair of them hovering over her, fussing and not wanting to let her lift a finger, and then running around like chickens with their heads cut off at the first labor pain. She was barely able to blink back tears as she thought of it. They would have loved her. They would have loved her and wanted her and her babies no matter what just a few months ago and now because of what had happened, because of what that thing that had been put in her head had done... She wanted to believe that they would understand if they saw her, that they would somehow be able to tell that it was really her, but she couldn't push away the fear that she would be rejected and her babies... The pain of rejection would be bad enough for her, but for two innocent, open, unprotected minds... Could she honestly expect them to see her babies as hers, babies that were loved and wanted, and not as an unpleasant reminder of what had happened? No, no matter what she wanted, she couldn't take that sort of risk with her children. She had to protect them.

Talia forced herself away from the wall, and blinked again to clear away the unshed tears. She knew she couldn't stay there any longer. She didn't have much time left. Psi-Corps was getting closer all the time, and the babies weren't going to wait much longer to come. She absolutely had to get to Mimbar. She slowly moved down the corridor again, a decision made about where to go. Ambassador Delenn made the most sense no matter how much she wished she could go to Susan or Michael. Andrew had spoken of her with the highest respect and Delenn... She had been there when that thing had taken over, of course, and she knew what had happened, but she hadn't been emotionally involved. That would make things easier. She hadn't been one of the people she had hurt, so maybe she would be willing to actually listen to her and help, if she didn't already know about the situation. It was the only possible option she could think of that had any hope of working. Now if she could just reach her quarters without being seen and convince Delenn to help her.


	2. Chapter 2

Talia looked around in dismay at the area she had just stumbled into. Huge tanks of water and pipes. The lighting was even worse than in downbelow and there wasn't a sign of a person anywhere. This definitely was not the way to the ambassadorial wing of the station. She slumped back against the wall and started trying to figure out how in the world she had got lost. Of course, the water reclamation unit wasn't exactly on the station tour so she didn't know to avoid it but still... How could she have gotten turned around like that? She had only been gone from the station for nine months. Surely they hadn't changed the layout of everything in that short length of time.

Suddenly Talia felt a much too familiar prickling in the back of her neck and she instinctively ducked, slipping back into the shadows again as she heard footsteps approaching.

"Talia, I know you're in here," a male voice called out in a tone that sent shivers down her back. "Did you really think that you could escape us? The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father. It's time for your children to come home where they belong."

Talia carefully peeked out of her hiding place. A psi cop, the same one who had killed the ranger who had brought her here. From where he was standing, he was blocking the way she had came, and access to that lift. She moved further back into the shadows and started to slowly ease her way across the vast area, making herself smaller than she imagined possible in her condition. If she could just get to the far side of the reclamation unit, then she might be able to find another lift and get away, at least for the moment. She stifled a sob as she thought of the lifts. What she wouldn't give to have one open and find Mr. Garibaldi standing there now. Even if he couldn't trust her thanks to what had happened, he was a good man. She knew he would protect her and her babies.

"Talia, make it easy on yourself," the man said as he moved in her direction. How had he seen her? She kept moving not making a sound. Maybe he didn't really know exactly where she was. He was moving slowly as if he wasn't in a rush to grab her, as if he knew he could capture her at any time, and there was nothing she could do about it. No, she had to keep going, couldn't give in to the fear the psi-cop wanted her to feel. She had escaped Corps custody on Mars, she had made it this far. There had to be a way out. They weren't taking her babies, not while she still had breath in her body to fight them.

Suddenly, her brain burned as the psi cop blasted her with an image of what was going to happen when she was captured. She bit back a scream as she saw the man cutting her open, taking her children away and leaving her there to bleed to death. Her fingers brushed her stomach as she struggled to fight back, cutting off the image by sending out a telekinetic blast that slammed the man into a nearby wall.

Talia staggered back from the strain of the blast. She had never used the telekinesis to that degree, had honestly been afraid to find out if it was possible, especially with the babies, but now she didn't have a choice. If they were going to survive and stay free, she had to fight with every resource she had. Even as she was struggling to stay on her feet, she forced herself to turn and run. She had to get away before he got up. Suddenly, before she had managed to go more than a few meters, a huge pain ripped through her and she staggered back, clutching at her stomach as she found herself falling. A second later, she was in the water and sinking. She kicked out frantically, the skirt of her dress wrapping around her legs, making movement difficult, pushing with her arms until she reached the surface again. Her head had just appeared at the surface, when she sensed motion and felt the prickle on her neck once more. She tried to move out of the way but she was a fraction of a second too slow. She felt something slam into her head, sending her into darkness. She only had time to let out one muffled scream before she slid silently under the water again and this time didn't come back up.


	3. Chapter 3

Michael Garibaldi had ended up in the water reclamation unit purely by accident. Somehow, the tube had let him off on the wrong level. Of course, he had already exited and the tube had quickly moved on before he realized the mistake, forcing him to call for another one. He barely restrained himself from hitting the panel in frustration as he remembered the last time the tube system had pulled something like this.

Jeff had told him how Talia had noticed he always seemed to be in the tube she was in. He should have told her the truth about that, but somehow he doubted she would believe that some sort of glitch in the system kept sending him in her direction, even when he had been heading in the complete opposite way when he had stepped inside.

Talia, Bester was going to pay some day, some how, for what the Corps had done to her. Talia had been a true innocent, and Bester and company had destroyed her without a thought. They probably even had her body still on ice somewhere for experimenting instead of letting her rest in peace. Once more he regretted what he hadn't done when the alternate personality had taken over, that he hadn't ended things for Talia. A broken neck would have been too obvious, but there were undetectable poisons out there, easier to find than he wanted to think of most of the time. He could have slipped her something without any trouble. But no, he had been too much of a coward to do that one last thing for Talia, and instead of a merciful death at the hands of a friend, she had died on some dissection table. As bad as Bester was, he wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't bothered to knock her out before they started cutting.

After a moment, he made himself force the thought of Talia and her fate aside. Maybe he would call maintenance when he got to his quarters and report the tube glitch to them. The last thing he needed was to deal with a glitchy transport when he wasn't going to have at least the pleasure of Talia's company for rides half the station out of his way.

He had just reached out to call for the tube again when he heard the scream. The voice sounded so familiar, but it couldn't be. He couldn't be hearing a dead woman. It was just because he had been thinking of Talia, had remembered how the tube always seemed to bring him to her, but still… He headed into the reclamation unit automatically. He knew he was wrong about who the voice was but there still was a person in there that sounded like they needed help.

He stopped when he saw someone kneeling by one of the water tanks, fishing around in the water for something. "What do you think you're doing?" he called as he moved forward with his PPG drawn. That scream and someone down where no one but maintenance should be, something was seriously off. He hadn't taken more than a few steps when he suddenly felt a wave of something wash over him, like a voice was silently calling out 'DANGER.' The man jumped to his feet, spinning around at the sound of Garibaldi's voice. A psi-cop. How had one of them got onto the station without anyone knowing? His weapon was out but that silent warning had given Garibaldi the edge. He fired before the telepath could get off a shot, sending the man crashing to the ground with a shot to the heart. Too bad it wasn't Bester.

Michael hurried over to the tank, shoving the psi-cop's body aside so that he could see what the man had been looking for in the water. He had a bad feeling what he was going to find, and he silently cursed the psi-cop and Bester as he searched the water. A moment later, he saw the body, floating face down just below the surface of the water. It was a woman, he noticed, as he reached out and tried to grab her, with blonde hair drifting loosely around her almost like a mermaid's. He could just touch the body, but he couldn't get enough leverage to pull her out of the water. No choice but to go in. How deep were those tanks, anyway? He quickly slid into the water and reached out, turning the woman as he grabbed hold of her pillowing her head against his shoulder so her head was out of the water. In the darkness of the tank, he couldn't really get a good look at her face and every movement of her body pushed him down and send water splashing up blurring his vision. She was quiet, though, way, way too quiet, no noise, not even something like the telepathic shout that he couldn't believe he had somehow heard. Not good. Psi-Corp wasn't going to kill another woman on his watch. He wouldn't let them win this time. Get her out, get her tended fast, they weren't going to win this time.

He paddled to the edge and lifted the woman up, getting her body over the side of the tank and rolled her onto the the ground, dunking himself in the process before pulling himself up and out. He knelt by the woman, reaching out to grasp her shoulders and roll her over. As soon as he moved her, he was shocked to see that he had been right about the voice that he heard. Talia, somehow it was Talia laying there at his feet unnaturally still and silent, her body empty of any signs of life.


	4. Chapter 4

Garabibaldi knelt by Talia, reaching out to check her and see if there was anything that could be done to help her. Her skin was dead white and her lips had a bluish tinge to them. Just then his hand brushed her stomach and jerked back when he felt a sudden movement. He stared down in shock at her swollen stomach, a train of different thoughts running rapidly through his head. How in the world had she got pregnant? She had been barely been gone from the station long enogh for it to be possible. He suddenly wished that he hadn't killed the psi cop with the shot through the heart, wied he had gut shot him or someing to make him suffer. How evil did a person have to be to harm an innocent baby? At least the baby was still moving. Maybe it could be saved even if Talia.... No, he wasn't going to think of that yet. She couldn't have been under there for too long. It had only been a couple of minutes since he heard her scream. She would be fine once she got some help.

He reached down and tilted her head back a little, putting his ear close to her mouth to see if she was breathing. Nothing. He quickly sealed his lips over hers and blew into her mouth before checking for a pulse. He felt a tiny flicker of life at first but before he could remove his fingers, the faint beat disappeared.

"Come on," he muttered as he moved into position and started doing the chest compressions. "Don't do this! Your baby needs you!"

A few minutes later, he was starting to get very worried. She wasn't reacting to the CPR yet and he couldn't understand why. With the short length of time she was under there, he would have expected her to come around after a minute or so. What if they psi cop had done something, damaged her mind so much that she couldn't be saved? He wouldn't put anything beyond them. He could tell the baby was getting weaker too, wasn't moving nearly as much. He had to get a medical team or something down there. Maybe they could.... This wasn't right. Wasn't right at all. He was sure that this was the real Talia. Why else would that Psi Cop have tried to kill her if she was on their side. How could she have been restored only to die again, this time for good?

Just then he felt a movement under his hands. He stopped the compressions and quickly pressed his fingers against her neck, hoping for a pulse. A second later, he was relieved to feel a thready beat. He leaned down and felt faint breathing against his ear as well. Now what was he going to do, though?

He reached down, gathering Talia into his arms and starting in the direction of the medical lab. Suddenly, the warning 'DANGER' washed over him again and he realized that the medical lab might not be the safest place for Talia right now. If there were more psi cops on the station where else would they look for a nine-months pregnant woman than the medical facilities, especially if they knew that she had been injured. He turned and headed in the direction of his room instead. She would be safe there for the moment and he could call Stephen to come down there to check her.He was shocked by how frail she felt in his arms. The size of her stomach had disguised that when she was laying on the floor but now that he had her in his arms, he realized how bad the situation was. He could actually feel her ribs, like you could on a starving person and her bones felt as if the slightest pressure would snap them. She didn't seem real, just a pale reflection of the woman he had known a year ago. What had the Corps done to her?


	5. Chapter 5

Michael carried Talia into his room, thankful that he had somehow avoided running into anyone on his way there. At least she was breathing better and he could feel her baby moving, almost constantly moving. Surely that was a sign that she would be alright, that the water and the psi cop hadn't done any major damage. 

He carried her into the bedroom and was just about to tuck her into bed when he remembered her wet clothes. She was in a shapeless white dress that was extremely different that the shapely business suits that she had worn months before. The dress was soaked and clinging to her body, emphasizing her fragile condition.

"Can't leave you in that," He muttered as he laid her down and started searching through drawers for something that she could wear for the moment. A moment later he found a shirt that he thought might fit. It would probably be a bit snug around her stomach but it would do until he could arrange something else. He levered her up into a sitting position and pulled on the dress easing it over her head and slipping her arms out of the sleeves. He was shocked when he saw what the dress had hidden, a series of scars running down her back as if she had been beaten with some sort of edged object. He bit back a curse at the sight of the scars. The next time Bester showed up, he was definitely going out an airlock.

As soon as he had her dressed, he laid her back in the bed and tucked her in, adding an extra blanket when she started to shiver. "You just rest now, okay? I'm going to call and get Stephen down here to make sure that you and the baby are fine. Oh, and if he threatens you with a food plan, just remember that he has no authority to make you follow it. I'll make you something when you feel up to eating. A nice friendly dinner. You'll be back on your feet in no time." He dimmed the lights as he exited the room. If she had been Downbelow for any length of time, the lights at full strength would hurt her eyes when she woke up.

He tried to signal Stephen on his link several times without getting a response before calling the medical lab to see if they had any idea where he was. After talking with Dr. Hobbs he learned that Stephen had left a few hours earlier to help Marcus with something in Downbelow. Michael debated for a moment, considering whether he should ask Dr. Hobbs to come down, before deciding not to get anyone else involved unless he had to. Better to keep Talia's presence known to as few people as possible until he knew what was going on.

He debated who to try next after breaking off the connection with medlab. He had a feeling that Marcus might know something about how Talia got there. A ranger had been found dead in Downbelow the night before. Could he have been the one who brought Talia here? A ranger could have gotten Talia back onto the station without detection easily. They had to be involved somehow. Why else would Marcus have asked Stephen to come Downbelow to help with something unless he expected to find someone who needed a doctor. He supposed one of Marcus's contacts could have required help but he just didn't think so. Maybe it was wishful thinking clouding his judgement but he was sure that this was the real Talia. If the rangers were involved, they certainly wouldn't have brought the artificial personality here.

He activated the companel again, calling Susan. He was fairly sure she was off duty at the moment. Maybe he could get her to track down Marcus and Stephen, not to mention bringing some better clothes for Talia. She wouldn't be happy when she found out about this, but he needed her help.

******

Talia slowly stirred and forced her eyes to open. She looked around the room trying to figure out where in the world she was, moving slowly to avoid aggravating her aching body. A moment later, she spotted a large cartoon picture hanging on the wall and stared at it in puzzlement. There was something very odd about that, someone who she had heard liked cartoons but....

Just then a jolt of pain shot through her stomach taking all thought out of her mind. She moaned as she remembered what had caused her to fall into the water. She concentrated, reaching within, touching her children's frantic thoughts. They were much too paniced to respond to her gentle mindtouch, struggling to come into the world. As another pain hit, she recalled who she had heard of that liked cartoons, Mr. Garibaldi.

"Mr. Garibaldi?" she weakly cried as she struggled through the pain only to feel something pop just as the pain finally ended. The shock of the pop took her breath away and before she knew it, another pain washed over her, stronger than the previous ones. She was definitely out of time. "MICHAEL!!!"


	6. Chapter 6

Michael was waiting for Susan to answer his com signal when he heard Talia screaming. He turned and rushed back into the bedroom, the companel forgotten. Talia was laying on her side in the bed softly moaning as she clutched at her stomach. He had a bad feeling about that, a real bad feeling. "Talia?" He moved to her side, reaching out and placing a hand on her arm. Her muscles were tense as if she was struggling under some incredible strain. "You're in labor, aren't you?"

She nodded and then suddenly moaned as another contraction hit. They were much too close and strong with a steady pressure building in her lower body. "Michael, do you know anything about delivering babies?" she asked him as she fought to focus, wincing with the pain and the confused thoughts of her children that battered her mind. They had no idea what was happening. They just knew that the walls of their nice safe home were closing in on them forcing them to venture out into the much too cruel world.

"Why do I have a feeling that I suddenly don't know as much as I need to," he muttered as he looked at her. All security personnel were required to take some classes in first aid and that had covered childbirth. Unfortunately, there hadn't been much real information offered. The instructor had insisted there was always enough time for trained personnel to arrive so they wouldn't need to know very much. Apparently, that instructor was an idiot.

"It's be okay," he tried to reassure her as he saw the frightened look in her eyes. "Do you have any idea of how much time we have?" He didn't think there would be enough time for someone to find Stephen and get him up there to help but maybe there was someone else who could lend a hand.

Talia started to respond but then suddenly screamed in pain as another contraction hit and her lower body suddenly felt as if it was on fire.

"I'll take it that that means we don't have time to call someone else," Garibaldi said as he frantically wracked his brain to remember what that class had said about childbirth. "I'll be right back. Just need to get a few things." he quickly darted out of the bedroom and into kitchen, digging through the drawers in search of some cooking string and a sharp knife. He thought he heard a voice coming from somewhere but he was distracted as Talia screamed again, sending him rushing back to her side.

She had somehow pulled herself up into a semi-sitting position in the minute he had been out of the room, reaching up and digging her fingers into her knees as her stomach churned and forced her children down, quickly moving out of her body.

"Here," he said as he adjusted the pillows behind her so that they supported her back a bit before pulling the blankets free of the foot of the bed and adjusting them so that he could see what was going on.

"So, want to tell me how you got back here?" he asked as he quickly looked under the blankets, his eyes widening when he saw how fast things were moving. The top of the baby's head was already visible, with more steadily appearing with each contraction.

"Activists found me on Mars, arranged to get me off the planet. This man, this Ranger, his name was Andrew...." Talia suddenly stopped talking as a contraction hit and she felt her body beginning to bear down. Her fingers dug into her knees as she struggled to push with the pain, to bring her children into the world.

"That's good. That's really good. Won't be long now," Michael said as he reached down, arranging his hands so he could support the head as it eased out. "So, what happened to this Ranger?"

"He saw something, told me to run. I didn't even sense the psi cop," Talia whispered. "He saved all three of us."

"Three?" he murmured. Why did he think things were about to get very complicated?

"Twins," Talia told him as another contraction begin. She reached out to her babies, trying to reassure them as she pushed. They were both so frightened, one of the cold outside that it could feel touching its head and the other of being alone.

"Why is nothing ever simple around here?" Michael asked as he watched the baby's head emerging, first little eyes clinched tightly shut and then suddenly the entire head was free. He reached out in a panic even though he had positioned his hands in readiness for this, carefully supporting the baby's head, terrified that he would harm it somehow.

He looked up into Talia's eyes. "You're doing real good. Baby's almost here," he reassured her. "So, should we expect a husband to show up anytime soon?"

"If one does, I certainly don't know about it and you have my permission to kill him!" Talia cried as her body forced her to push again.

"You don't know who...." Michael said as she adjusted his grip as the baby's shoulders started to emerge.

"No idea. The last thing I remember was walking in and seeing Lyta Alexander and then I was waking up six months pregnant." Talia shut her eyes as she pushed. Her strength was fading rapidly. She didn't know how much longer she could do this.

"Talia, stay with me, okay?" Michael said as she reached up with one hand while supporting the baby with the other and pinched her arm, forcing her to open her eyes. "One more push. Can you do that?"

She slowly nodded, gathering her strength and bearing down. As the baby emerged, he lifted its body, easing it onto her stomach as soon as it was fully out. Talia reached out, touching the baby with her hands and her mind, reassuring her new son that mother was there while Michael quickly dried the baby and then tied and cut the cord. As soon as that was done, he helped her to lift the baby and settled him into her arms. To his surprise, the baby hadn't screamed as he thought most did at birth. He merely blinked and looked up at Talia's touch before sneezing a bit of fluid out and starting to steadily breathe.

"Talia?" Michael called. He really didn't like that look in her eyes, like she was about to pass out or something. "There's another baby here that needs to be born. Are you doing okay?"

"Very, very tired," she murmured as she reached out, undoing the top buttons of the shirt she was wearing and pressing her son to her breast.

"Who can blame you after what you've gone through today. Just stay with me for a little while longer and then you can sleep as long as you like, okay?" Michael said as he checked again and was relieved to see that the second baby's head was now visible. At least this was going fast. That might make it a bit easier on her. "So, do you know if the psi cop who was after you was alone or do I need to send security out on a manhunt?"

"I don't know if he was alone. They usually aren't, though." Talia suddenly screamed as the contractions begin again. She clung to her son as she bore down, struggling to bring his sibling into the world as well.

""Okay. We'll just figure that there are more of them. You're doing really good," He said as he looked up at her. The top of the baby's head was visible to the forehead now. "Did that psi cop hurt you?"

"No. He just showed me what they were going to do when they got ahold of me, how they were going to cut my babies out and leave me there to die." Another contraction forced her to stop talking in order to bear down again. When would this end?

Head's out now," Garibaldi told her as the tiny head slowly emerged into his waiting hands. He figured that she needed to know that this wasn't going to go on much longer. "I always knew the Corps was evil but threatening to take babies from their mom like that...."

"They did worse. Wouldn't let me forget that no one was going to come looking for me, that I would never be free again," Talia whispered as she breathed deeply gathering her strength before pushing again. That had been the worst thing that the Corps had done to her. Bester had taken great delight in telling her what the alternate personality had done and how her friends believed that she was dead. How she had no hope of rescue.

Michael didn't know what to say to her. What the Corps had told her was true, they had never thought of trying to save her. They had just taken Lyta's word that the old Talia was dead and then when Bester had slipped with that remark about dissection.... He was suspicious of everything else! Why hadn't he thought to look into her fate?

"Don't blame yourself," Talia murmured. "You couldn't have known. No one could have known."

"We should have looked," he murmured as she reached down, supporting the baby as it slowly emerged and then lifting it up onto her stomach before gently covering it with a blanket and tying and cutting the cord.

Talia's lips twitched in a weak smile as she reached down and gathered her daughter up, pressing her against her other breast as she leaned back against the pillows. She was so tired but she had done what she had wanted so badly. Her babies were safe and free. "Promise me something," she whispered.

"Anything."

"Don't let the Corps take my babies. Protect them and find my daughter." Her eyelids were becoming so heavy. She didn't know how much longer she could stay awake.

"Your daughter? You mean...."

"Not the baby. Older. The Psi Corps took her from me when she was three. She's on Syria Planum. I saw her." Talia's one regret about her escape from Mars was the fact that she had been forced to leave her firstborn child behind. "Allie. Find her. Protect her."

"We'll get her back for you. Just rest now," Michael said as Talia drifted off, even in sleep maintaining a firm grip on her babies, as if she feared they would be snatched from her arms. Snatched like her first child had been.


	7. Chapter 7

When Bester showed up, he was going to die this time. Michael tucked the blankets around Talia and her babies, trying to work out what to do as he though about the various unpleasant fates he could arrange for the psi-cop. Talia was still bleeding some in the aftermath of the birth, and as frail as she appeared, he doubted that she could afford to loose much blood. She needed a doctor down there now. He debated calling the medlab again but if the wrong person saw her, and especially if something was going on connected to the telepathy thing…. She really needed Stephen.

First things first, though. That bleeding needed to slow down, and then he could worry about finding someone to track down help. "I'm pretty sure this is going to hurt, but I'm trying to help, okay? I'm just trying to help." Not that it felt much like helping when Talia let out a moan as he touched her stomach and pressed down in what he hoped was the right place. And was this what he was supposed to be doing anyway? He was going to have to talk to Stephen and see about sitting up some sort of refresher course, especially if anyone else in security had gone to the emergency classes with the same instructor that he had. The doctor who had done the class had been so full of himself and so sure of medical superiority that he hadn't even bothered covering what to do after a birth, saying that proper help would be there long before then, and there was no need for them to have such information. The little he did know was from flipping through the book when he got tired of listening to the man droning on.

"Probably should have read that a little." He murmured to himself. If he screwed this up and did something to hurt Talia…. The bleeding was slowing, though, so hopefully he was doing something right. That was a start. Slow down the bleeding, and then see about getting some help down there. And wasn't there something else, something after the birth that needed taken care of? He thought he remembered something like that from flipping through the book. Hopefully that was something that could wait a bit, until Stephen could get there to take over the situation.

Before he thought about it, and had time to rethink it, he leaned down and pressed a kiss against her forehead. "You've done better than anyone I can think of. You just rest and and get better, alright. You're safe here, all three of you, I promise."

He almost kissed her forehead again, when he suddenly heard a noise, a pounding on his door.

"Who…" No, whoever it was, unless it was Londo maybe, could be drafted to go and hunt down Stephen. The bleeding had definitely slowed down to the point where it was likely safe to move from Talia's side long enough to answer the door anyway. With a reassuring pat, he turned and hurried towards the door. Someone who could find Stephen. That's all he needed. He would even take it if it was Londo on his doorstep. Probably the mention of female problems would send him racing off faster than anyone else on the station to get Stephen before he could be asked to stay and lend a hand.

Susan. Better than he was expecting, Michael thought when he opened the door and found the station second in command standing there.

Before he could say anything, she took a shaky breath and then drew herself up. "I found a place where we can cremate the body." Blood on his hands, blood on his shirt, Susan didn't know quite where to look without seeing that blood but she couldn't turn away either. She reached out, a thick tarp she had found near the docks, hopefully thick enough that she wouldn't have to see the body, in her hands. "We'll have to move fast, though. You know Bester's going to be here soon. Have you let John know what happened yet?"

"I've kind of had my hands full. How did you know to come down here?" And what in the world was Susan talking about, mentioning cremating a body? Although it did remind him that he needed to do something about the psi-cop he had shot.

"I heard the entire thing over the com." Susan told him.

"You heard? You know, I could have really used a hand down here." If Susan had heard what was going on, why in the world hadn't she got herself down there? Surely both of them couldn't have been sent to the same instructor for emergency training. If nothing else, Talia could have used someone else there for moral support and hand-holding.

"You could have used a hand?" She had been ready to bolt out of her quarters when she heard the second scream, and then by the third, her sofa probably had gouges where she had dug her hands in to keep from rushing out, to keep from shooting Garibaldi to stop what was going on. It wasn't Talia. She reminded herself for what felt like the millionth time that it wasn't Talia, it was a creature Psi-corps had made from Talia's dead body. If the real Talia had known, she would have asked them to kill her rather than let her suffer that fate, but still, the screams and how long the screams had continued before the merciful end…. "Did you have to take that long to finish things?" A shot to the heart, breaking her neck, there were a million merciful, quick ways to kill someone. Talia deserved better, and Susan couldn't believe that Michael hadn't at least given her that, a quick, easy death instead of…. She looked at him again and the blood. All of the blood, what had he done, cut her to ribbons? "What did you do? She's half your size! It wouldn't have taken anything to snap her neck instead of…." They could deal with it later, though. They had to get the body out of there and disposed of before Bester showed up. "Here." She shoved the tarp into his hands. "Get her and let's get this over with."

"Get…. Wait." Suddenly it hit him what Susan was thinking and Michael wasn't sure whether to be angry that she thought he had tortured Talia and killed her, or to feel sorry for her that she thought she was going to have to help dispose of a friend's dead body. "Susan, there's something you need to see."

"I don't want to see. She was already dead. This is just a formality. Now get her and we can get this taken care of." Susan drew herself up. Their Talia was dead. Garibaldi had just killed her possessed body. It didn't matter. It was just a body. The real Talia wasn't there. She was already dead. It didn't matter if he had cut to ribbons someone who was already dead.

"Susan…." Better to just show her. He grabbed her arm and before she could object, he had her through the bedroom door.

"I told you I didn't…." Blood, more blood was on the bedsheets, and Talia was lying there, deathly still. Susan almost closed her eyes, not wanting to see the damage that had been done, even as she tried to remind herself once more that this wasn't the real Talia. But… She was under the covers. Was Michael neat enough to tuck someone he had just killed in? Dead, she had to be dead, though. And it wasn't really Talia, it was a Psi-Corps fake but…. Something on the bed moved, causing Susan to almost jump. She edged closer, not even noticing she was moving, and then there was the movement again and then a noise, a…. "A baby?" Susan looked up at Michael in astonishment as it sank in what she was seeing, resting in Talia's arms.

"Babies. Take a look." Garibaldi said with a grin at the look on her face. "Told you I could have used a hand."

"But it's not…. It's not Talia, not our Talia." Susan whispered. Babies. Innocent babies. Even if the person who had given birth to them was an imposter, the body was Talia's. That had to count for something. If that creature thought she was going to take two innocent children back, and turn them over to Bester….

"Susan, I don't know how it happened after what Lyta said would happen when the alternate personality was activated, after what we saw, but something must have gone wrong. That's our Talia, the real Talia." Surely the fact that the psi-cop had tried to kill her was plenty of proof that they had somehow got the real Talia back.

"The real Talia? How? Where did she come from?" Susan moved closer to the bed, looking at Talia critically, as if she could somehow tell visually if this was truly Talia or the control personality.

"She was in the middle of giving birth, so it isn't like there was much chance to ask a lot of questions. The last thing she remembered was seeing Lyta and then waking up six months pregnant. Some time after than she ended up hooked up with activists on Mars and then got turned over to the rangers.

"

"The dead ranger? He brought her here?" Blood on the sheets. More than Susan thought should be there, and Talia was deathly white, her face drawn to the point the bone almost seemed visible.

"Right. He saw a psi-cop, told her to run. Only problem is that the cop caught up with her again, down in the water reclamation facility. She's got a pretty good bump on her head. I'm guessing he hit her and she either fell or he knocked her into one of the tanks. She almost drowned before I stumbled into the middle of things."

"She almost…. Bester's dead. John doesn't need to know. Stephen doesn't need to know. He's dead."

"We can declare it a suicide. Hey, he keeps showing up here knowing we all want him dead. If that doesn't say he's suicidal, I don't know what does. Who can blame us if we can't keep him from killing himself?"

"A painful suicide. She ended up in one of the water tanks? How long was she in there?" No gloves. She wasn't wearing gloves. Was that a sign that Garibaldi was right, and this was the real Talia, but if it was…. They had handed her over to Psi-Corps. They handed her over without raising a finger to try to save her.

"It couldn't have been more than a few minutes. I heard her scream right after I got off the tube. Four, five minutes tops even with having to go through the psi-cop to get to her. She had already gone under the water by that point, wasn't breathing, couldn't get a pulse." Remembering feeling that pulse fading out on him made a cold chill rush over him, but he reminded himself of what he told Susan, Talia couldn't have been under the water long. And she had been awake and coherent, even if extremely weak afterwards. Get Stephen up there to take care of her and she would be fine.

"There wasn't…. How long?" Not breathing, no pulse, at least the instructor had been clear about the damage being in that condition for even a few minutes could do.

"It felt longer, but probably not more than two or three minutes. She was awake, she was coherent. I don't think it actually hurt her." Scared a few years off of his life when he thought he wasn't going to be able to get her breathing, get a pulse back, but as for actual damage, he just didn't think so. "Maybe it's something with the telepathy. Maybe it protected her more than a normal human would be, but she was awake, she knew what happened, knew…."

"She knew what we did?"

"She knew what the other personality did. They couldn't resist telling her that. She didn't blame us for how things turned out."

"She should."

"No question there." Somehow Talia not blaming them for what had happened to her was worse than if she had been angry, had hated them and had only accepted help for the sake of her children. They deserved anger, they deserved hate. They could have kept her locked up, they could have shipped her off to Mimbar until they knew for sure that their Talia was actually gone. They could have…. They could have ended things for her if they had been sure there was no way to save her. They didn't have to hand her over to Psi-Corps.

"She needs Stephen. Did you call him yet?"

"I tried. He's somewhere in Down Below with Marcus, I'm assuming helping look for her, and without his link."

"Marcus. I'm not sure if I ought to hug him or hit him when I next see him." If he had let them know that Talia was there, they could have had half the station looking for her, and might have found her before she had been hurt, but then again, would that have just made it easier for the psi-cop to have found her? She could think about that later, though. "I can find Stephen and Marcus, but….. Will you be okay with them until I can get back?" Hopefully the emergency training offered to the security department was a lot better than the class she had got, with the instructor who thought pretty much the entire world was beneath him.

"Go. She needs Stephen now."

Susan stood for a moment, uncertain, before nodding and hurrying out.

"Want to bet that she'll drag Stephen by his collar all the way up here?" He moved the blankets a bit. There still was some bleeding, but it looked like it was controlled, anyway. That was one point in their favor. The bleeding was slow, and if Susan could get Stephen up there fast enough, they could get this mess fixed. Talia would be fine.

He ought to do something about the sheets, get something clean under her in place of the bloodstained linens, see about getting her cleaned up a bit, but he was half afraid any movement could cause more bleeding. Better to just keep her still and try to keep her as comfortable as he could until help was there.

"I could see about fixing your hair anyway. What did Psi-Corps do to it?" He got a comb from the bathroom, and went back to the bed, but then stopped and took a closer look. Something was wrong with her hair, something besides tangles and a brittle, frayed appearance. It was longer than it had been when Talia left the station, which made sense if she had been a prisoner for nine months. Not like prisoners got to the beauty parlor much, but something about how her hair looked was off.

"Okay, I'm going to try to be careful here, but let's see what they did. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to see what they did so Stephen can figure out how to fix things, okay? I'm not going to hurt you." He worked the comb into her hair, working it through as slowly as he could to avoid pulling. Something was definitely wrong. If the Corps had just tossed Talia into a cell or imprisoned her in a medical lab somewhere and had neglected her for months, it would be one thing, but her hair was uneven like it had been cut or shaved, and then allowed to grow without any attention. Shaved. He felt cold and he reached out, and as gently as he could, ran his fingers through her hair, gently feeling her scalp. At first he thought he was wrong, but then he felt the slightly raised markings that could only be the result of an incision.

What had Bester had done to her? She was talking, she was coherent, so at least he hadn't had parts of her brain removed, which was his first panicked thought. It wasn't that, and surely the rangers had thought to scan her for an implanted tracking device when she fell into their custody, but something else…. Could Bester have had them implant something else?

"I'm going to see about getting you some clean clothes, okay?" He leaned down and kissed her forehead again before jumping up and heading for the com. Hopefully he was just being paranoid, but if Bester had left a nasty little surprise…. It couldn't be on a timer, would need a signal to go off if there was anything. "Lennier?" He said as soon as the ambassador's aide answered the signal. "I need to talk to Delenn. I need a jamming device down here now, that can block every signal that you can think of.


End file.
